Making It Out In Crystal Downs
by hannahml
Summary: After GLaDOS lets Chell go from Aperture, she has no place to go but forward. After walking past the wheat field, she reaches the small refugee town of Crystal Downs, Michigan. But when a ragtag group of eight people show up, Chell has to decide whether to leave them to their own buisness and preserve her new life, or help them and risk the consequences-and face some old enemies.
1. Chapter 1

"I don't know why you insist on coming here, Chell," Mel complained, glancing around the diner nervously. "There's so many _sketchy_ looking people here…"

Chell gave her friend a shrug as she took a sip from her mug of coffee. Most of the folks who came into the small town of Crystal Downs, Michigan, were outlaws, runaways, and the like. There weren't any other towns for miles, and they all wandered in hungry, tired, and injured. The doctor fixed them up, and didn't tend to ask where they came from or anything about their background. The town simply took them in. Chell herself had been very grateful for this when she arrived in town with bullet wounds, numerous bad bruises, bad burns, a _very_ sore throat from disuse, and _possibly_ a very _minor_ case of serious brain damage. After fixing her physical wounds, the doctor, Susan Delaine, took Chell into her home and helped her regain her normal speech—though not speaking was still a habit of hers. Chell helped the two in the C.D. Hospital in return for her housing. While she was recovering, Mel Delaine, the doctor's daughter, and Chell became fast friends, despite their polar differences. Dr. Delaine's no-nonsense demeanor was very comforting to Chell, and Mel's girly-girl attitude was as different from Chell's as it could be, but they all got along fine.

"No, really," Mel muttered. "Some of the guys here look like they'd murder someone in cold blood. And some of them might've!" She leaned over the table and looked Chell in the eyes. "You've got your coffee. Can we go home now?" She whispered the last part, as though afraid the men might hear and try to stop them.

After a silent stare down, Chell broke away. She downed her espresso and, leaving a few dollars on the table to pay for it, stood up to leave. As she and Mel headed for the door, a small strangled _ding-dong_ came from the bell attached of the door of the diner.

As the door opened, Mel took one look at the people behind it and groaned. "Oh, great. These guys look weirder than the sketchy guys." The people did look a bit odd. Their clothes were pure white and weren't very dirty. With no other town for miles, and no good way to wash clothes in C.D., it was nearly impossible for anyone's clothes to stay that clean, especially if they'd walked from wherever they'd come from. There were about eight of them, all walking in pairs like a small army. They sat down at the tables nearest to the door, as though making sure they had an escape route. They looked around the diner nervously, as though expecting an ambush.

As new people appeared in town about twice a week, however, no one made any move to go over, friendly intentions or no. Even Mel started pulling her towards the door again, strangers forgotten. Determined to set an example, Chell shrugged her off and walked towards the new people to introduce herself. With an exasperated glance towards her retreating figure, Mel left for the hospital.

When Chell reached a table, the man closest to her looked up at her, green eyes flashing. "Oh," he grinned, tipping his hat to her, "hello, pretty lady. What're you doing in a crummy place like this, hm?" He jabbed the man sitting next to him in the side. The man put down the book he had been reading and glared at him in annoyance. "Check this out, four-eyes. Some lady hanging out in a pub." The first man winked at her. "My kind of girl. D'ya like explosions?"

As Chell glared at him in disgust, the second man rolled his eyes. "Oh, please," he said, his voice clipped and proper. "It is a well known fact that _no_ girl will _ever_ like you."

The flirtious look the green-eyed man had been giving her vanished as he gave the second man a tight frown. "Well, they _might_ if you'd just _shut up_ with all of your stupid 'facts'!" As the two men began arguing, Chell, feeling uncomfortable, moved to the next table.

Sitting there were two people in clothes identical to the first two, but the woman was wearing a purple heart-shaped necklace, and the man had a red broche n the shape of a flame. They were sitting in silence, their faces only dimly lit by the flickering light hanging above the table. Feeling as though she was intruding, Chell cleared her throat. The woman looked up and smiled. "Hello!" she said in a voice so soft, it was barely audible. "Do you live here?" Chell nodded, instantly at ease with this woman. "Excellent! We're a bit lost. We were kicked out of our home, and, according to one of our company, the first thing we had to do was find a certain person so she could help us. So we let him lead the way, but—"

The woman was cut off as her partner stood up abruptly. "—but he was such a _moron_ that he got us all _lost_!" the man yelled loudly. His eyes were bloodshot, making them look red. He continued shouting. "He's always been a moron, but this is just ridiculous!" The man scowled as he sat back down, but he visibly calmed as the woman put a hand on his shoulder. Chell looked around to see who had heard his outburst, but no one seemed to have heard him over the general hubbub of the diner, and all of his companions seemed used to his temper. Remembering Chell, the woman shot her an apologetic look before whispering soothingly into the man's ear. Chell nervously edged around the man, and moved on.

She saw one man with light blue eyes asking a waiter if they served cake. She chuckled, remembering how she had asked the very same thing when she first entered the diner. She left him to it, and glanced at the last table. A boy and a girl, both looking to be about 16, were looking around the diner with obvious interest. When the girl, who wore an orange necklace, spotted Chell, she poked her companion in the shoulder and pointed to her. They both gave her large grins, and Chell felt herself smile back. They waved her over, and she sat down across from them.

"Hi! Who are you? Do you live here? Where are we?" the girl asked, instantly firing off one question after another. Without a breath, and not letting Chell answer, she continued. "Why are all these people dirty? Are they bad people? Is the food good here? Do they have cake? Oh, oh, can I have some? Will we be able to see the stars tonight?" The last question was the only one Chell caught—she smiled and nodded. The girl squealed and poked the boy's shoulder again. "Did you hear that?" She grinned at him. "We'll be able to see space! Isn't that great?"

"Space?!" The boy looked at Chell for confirmation. The enthusiasm in his voice was hard to resist. She laughed and nodded again. "SPAAAAACE!" the boy yelled, holding up a large spherical thing in the air like a trophy. Chell frowned and pointed at the object. It was a hunk of charred, twisted metal, seeming to have the vague shape of a ball. The boy grinned again. "It's my space helmet!" he declared gleefully, and placed his head inside a hole in the bottom. "See? I'm an astronaut! In SPACE!" Chell just gave him a thumbs up, unsure how safe putting that thing on his head was. The boy began to spew random facts about space, and the girl seemed quite captivated, interrupting him frequently to ask questions, which he answered gladly.

Having been forgotten, Chell went back to the table where she and Mel had sat. _That was interesting…_she thought. _The first two men didn't seem to be on good terms. They barely acknowledged I was there. _She grimaced. _And when they did, it wasn't the type of greeting I wanted._ She looked over at the man and woman at the second table. They had resumed their solemn state, but the woman caught Chell's gaze and smiled. Chell smiled back. _That lady is very nice. Her partner is a bit…_angry _though… _When she looked at the two of them, she felt a queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She didn't know what it was, but she shook it off and looked towards the younger pair. They were still chattering lively, and the man who had been ordering cake was apparently trying to swap cake recipes with the waiter. Looking at the man and the girl, she felt the same small surge of queasiness. She pushed it away again, with the effortlessness that came form years of shielding her emotions.

Lost in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed a shadow fall over the table. The figure casting it cleared his throat, and Chell looked up into his face, first noticing his dark blue, shining eyes, and secondly his charming English accent.

"Oh, hello," the man said. "I was hoping you could give me some directions…"


	2. Chapter 2

As he looked at her expectantly, about a million thoughts and feeling rushed through Chell's mind. Out of all of them, only one made it past her lips. "What are _you_ doing here?" she sputtered.

"I'm looking for someone!" the man said obliviously. The more Chell stared at him, the more he seemed to handle himself like the little personality core, Wheatley, that she had met during her time in Aperture. The way he wrung his hands as though afraid something terrible would happen at any moment. The little involuntary twitch that he got after being crushed by…her. The blue eyes. And his accent—familiar, yet it infuriated her to hear it as he spoke to her calmly, as though he'd never betrayed her trust. "I was hoping you might be able to help me find her," he said less confidently, noticing the furious look on Chell's face.

_Don't you recognize me, you moron?! _she wanted to scream. _The woman you betrayed and tried to kill on numerous occasions?! _Instead, she wiped the glare off her face and gave him a tight smile. "Of course. Who is she?"

"Well, her name is…is…ah…To be quite honest, I don't really know her name." 'Wheatley' admitted sheepishly. "But I know other things about her!" When Chell gestured for him to go on, he gained courage and launched into a detailed description. "She's got dark brown, medium length hair in a ponytail, she's wearing an orange jumpsuit with the top tied around her waist, she's got big, gray eyes—very pretty color—and she's probably very angry all the time. She's not fat, actually very skinny and strong, and…um…" 'Wheatley' paused, trying to recall anything else he knew about the person. "She's pretty tall, but maybe she was short, and I couldn't tell, because I was bloody short compared to her anyways…Oh, oh, and she might have a very minor case of serious brain damage. But even then, she's a very good jumper, and a very fast thinker. Scary fast, actually. She's not afraid of anything, and she never gives up, no matter what." He looked at Chell expectantly. "Have you seen her?"

For a moment, Chell was shocked. He'd described her perfectly. When did he take the time to observe her like that? To notice her personality? To memorize her appearance? Was it when she carried him through the dilapidated facility? When he was waiting for her to finish one of Her tests, watching for the best chance to free her? She paused, her eyes hardening. When she stood in the escape lift, unable to do anything, as he glared at her with a sudden loathing? Finally remembering Wheatley was still there, waiting for her to answer, she looked up at him. "Actually, I—"

"It's alright if you haven't, I can go ask someone else," he said apologetically, turning away.

Chell shook her head. "No, I have…"

Wheatley turned around, his eyes bright. "Really?! Where is she?!"

How can he not recognize me? she thought. Then she caught sight of herself in the reflective surface of the napkin dispenser on the table. Her hair was longer than it had been—and she didn't put it in a ponytail anymore. She'd burned the jumpsuit as soon as she got a new outfit. She'd also taken a bath as soon as she could—Aperture had left her a bit filthy. The scars and bullet wounds that had marked her skin had gone away, and so had the stress lines. She was unrecognizable as the 'dangerous, mute lunatic' who'd portaled around Aperture months before. Not to mention he'd never heard her voice, and didn't think she could speak, considering her a mute like She had.

Waving away his question, she took her first good look at him. He looked like any other human; he had hair (dirty blonde) and skin and eyes (that bright blue she had come to know, squinting at her as though he had trouble seeing her) and hands (still wringing nervously) and all that 'human anatomy'. How he'd gotten this way was not Chell's first priority. His clothes were as clean as the other people who'd come into town at the same time, and-Oh, no. Chell looked back at the other people she'd met earlier; at second glance, each other them had an Aperture Science logo displayed on their clothing. Another million thoughts formed, but only one stuck in the front of her mind. **Get them out of here.** Abruptly standing, she grabbed Wheatley's wrist and dragged him out the door of the diner.

Taking this as a sign that she was taking him to his 'unnamed lady', Wheatley called behind him, "Oy! Everyone! This lady found the woman we need to see!" A collective groan could be heard from behind the door, but the other seven came out and followed Chell and Wheatley.

A few minutes later, they were outside the city gate, standing on a stretch of sandy beach. This part of Crystal Lake was kept out of sight of the town by a grove of trees. Here Chell sat down on a rock and gestured for her followers to sit as well. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Wheatley peered at Chell. "Erm, sorry luv, but I'm pretty sure she's not here. I don't see her…"

With a sigh, Chell pulled off her orange jacket and tied the sleeves around her waist, revealing the tank top under it. Taking an elastic from her pocket, she tied her hair back into a ponytail. She then glared at Wheatley with the same annoyed look she'd given him when he'd forced her to test.

"Oh my g—" Wheatley stared at her, eyes wide, before stuttering. "You, you're—you're—"

"I'm _what_, Wheatley?" Chell snapped, removing the elastic and putting her jacket on again.

"Y-You're….I mean…" Wheatley mumbled, frightened by the powerful emotion she had embedded into those few words. "Oh, luv, I'm bloody sorry for—"

"My name's Chell," she said just as forcefully. "And I don't need your apology. There'll be time for that later, after you explain what's going on."

"Alright then, well, we—"

"Not here, moron. There are too many people who could hear."

"Out here?"

"Yes," Chell groaned. "You wouldn't understand. There're people out here who'd do anything to get power—if they hear about…Aperture, than they'd storm in and try to take control…" She glanced at him. "You of all people should know how that tends to turn out."

He paled and mumbled something inaudible in reply, and suddenly seemed to remember something else. "Actually, lu—Chell, I found something outside the shed when we left that you might want…"

Spotting an opportunity to get rid of him while she thought of a plan, she gave him a smile. "Really?" she asked sweetly. "Why don't you go get it for me?"

Instantly, he was up and running. "I'll be right back, luv! I stashed it near here! I'm sure of it!"

Chell rolled her eyes and turned towards the other people in the clearing. Looking at their faces, the smile vanished. Almost every one of them was staring at her with an expression of either anger or fear. The woman in purple—the Morality Core she'd…incinerated in order to deactivate GLaDOS—looked quite shocked at seeing her again. Despite this, Morality kept one restraining hand on the red eyed man-Anger Core, Chell winced inwardly. She'd incinerated him too. If Anger looked angry all the time-_and he probably does,_ Chell reasoned—then he was furious now. The logic core just looked at her with loathing. Looking at the girl—Curiosity Core—Chell felt so guilty, she almost couldn't bear it. Curiosity was tearing up, staring at Chell as though she was a monster. Chell quickly glanced away, looking at the other three 'cores'.

Adventure Core, the green-eyed man in the Indiana Jones style hat, spoke up. "Well. We meet again, eh?" He stood up and stretched. "I'm guessing it's time for an adventure! Let's get to it!"

The pink eyed man forced him down again. "Fact: Nobody's going anywhere yet." Fact Core twitched violently and continued his thought, "Fact: Gravity is so strong in the state of Michigan that it is impossible to stand once seated." The other cores all rolled their eyes in exasperation. Adventure glared at him, and stood up easily. Fact blinked once, and fell silent—apparently, proving one of his 'facts' wrong was as effective as a paradox.

The boy with yellow eyes was the only one who was smiling at Chell. "Hey, hey, you're that lady!" he beamed. "The lady who took me to SPACE!" Chell weakly smiled back and waved at him. Space Core left up and tugged on her sleeve. "Space Lady, Space Lady, can you take me back?"

Feeling awkward under the critical gaze of the others, she looked down on the only one who seemed to like her unconditionally. "Back where?" she asked.

"Back to SPACE!" he yelled. "With my space buddy!" He let go of Chell's arm and raced after Wheatley. "Space buddy, wait! The Space Lady's gonna take us back to SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!"

"Wow lady, you work fast," Adventure said. "Now that those two morons are out of the picture, we can get some stuff done! First order of business," he looked around the lake and surrounding wooded landscape critically. "Where exactly are we?"

"Fact: We are in Crystal Downs, Upper Michigan." Fact said. "Crystal Downs was a country club. People did not have time to go golfing because they were too busy running away from aliens intent on genocide, so they closed it down. Now there is a town here instead."

Chell laughed quietly. "Yeah, that about sums it up."

"Well then," Adventure said, obviously surprised that one of Fact Cores facts was correct, "Let's hope those losers fall in a random golf hole on the way back here, eh?"

"I wish…" Chell muttered. Turning to Morality, Curiosity, Logic, and Anger, she sighed. "Look, you guys, I'm really sorry for…killing you. I didn't mean to—I mean, I did, but I was only trying to—I didn't realize that you all would…feel it or anything, and I forgot you'd survive, and—"

Morality cut her off. "Like you told Wheatley," she said, "apologies can wait until after we explain what we're doing here."

Taken aback by the slight impatience in the Morality Core's voice, and the rise in volume, she nodded her agreement, and sat back for a long story.


	3. Chapter 3

Dead branches snapped as Wheatley clumsily crashed through the forest. "Come _on_," he muttered, scanning the woods. "It's big, it's pink; it shouldn't be too hard to find in all these trees-! Oh!" He had emerged into a small clearing. Miraculously, in the center of it was the object he was looking for—a Companion Cube, slightly burnt, but still recognizable. Relieved, he went over to it and picked it up, happy to have found it. He instantly staggered back under its weight, but regained his footing just short of falling over. Now balanced, Cube in tow, he began to walk back to where he'd left the others. He stopped short. "_Is_ this the right way?" he mumbled, confused. "All these bloody trees look the same…"

Suddenly, from a bit to hit left, Wheatley heard a faint shout. "SPAAAAAAACE BUUUUDDYYYY! Where aaaaare yoooou?" the voice called.

Quickly, Wheatley weighed his chances. On one hand, Space Core was most likely coming from wherever Chell and the others were. If he went that way, he could give Chell her Companion Cube quickly. Only problem was that he'd gain Space as a travel companion for the few minutes it'd take to get there. On the other hand, he could bypass Space entirely by running in the opposite direction. He'd have to backtrack in order to get to the beach, and it'd take a while, but if it spared him 10 minutes of hearing about space…!

Seconds later, he was stumbling through the woods again, heading into the thicker parts. Finally, he grew too tired to move on, and he dropped the Cube in a nearby pile of leaves. After listening for Space's calls and hearing nothing, he sat down on it. Slowly catching his breath, he glanced around.

In his haste, he had gone very far into the woods. It was getting a bit dark, not much light filtering through the treetops. Now that he listened carefully, he couldn't hear _anything_. He drew his legs up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Glancing around nervously in the quiet, he was glad for the soft glow of the Companion Cube's hearts. He sat in silence for a moment, still on edge.

_**Hoo, hoo**_!

Wheatley's eyes widened. He shot up quickly, and shoved his hand into his pocket. After a second, he pulled out a small silver object. Pressing a button on the side nervously, a beam of light shot out. "I may not die from turning this torch on," he muttered, "but I'm probably going to get murdered by some hungry bird…!"

As he swept the beam across the treetops, he gasped. About 5 feet away from where he was standing, a pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the light of the flashlight. Squinting hard in its direction, he stood up and took a step towards it…

And then the owl flew down from the tree.

"AUGH!" Wheatley yelled, and dropped the flashlight. He quickly lifted the Cube up, and ran for his life. "BIRD, BIRD!" he screamed. "Oh, bloody—DON'T HURT ME!" The owl continued to fly after him. Juggling the Cube in his arms, crashing through several tree branches that were nearly invisible in the darkness—until he smacked into them—he tried to evade the bird by zigzagging. Sadly, this proved to be a less than a foolproof way to navigate a forest. Worried that he was lost, he glanced behind him to see if he could find the clearing—and to see if the bird was still there.

_**Hooooo**_!

Yelping, he scanned the trees behind him for the bird, still stumbling forwards. Suddenly, his foot caught on a tree root. Before he could catch himself, he had tripped; right off the side of a hill. He rolled over a few times, miraculously maintaining his grip on the Cube. Finally, he stopped falling, landing in a small cave formed by a pile of rocks that were at the bottom of the cliff.

"Oooow…!" Wheatley groaned. "This…this is why I don't like nature. It's out to kill me." His eyes widened as he heard another faint hoot, but he seemed to have lost the bird. He winced. And possibly the ability to use his legs. Probably not, but he didn't try to move. "I guess I have some time on my hands…" He ran his hand over the surface of the Cube. "I wonder why she left to out there. It's just a normal Cube, the Cube she used when she was testing, so why-?" On the heart on top of the Cube, he felt an abnormal little bump. Scratching away the scorch marks on its surface, he made out a small button. His eyes lit up. "A button! Buttons do things!" With no second thoughts, he pressed it.

After an eerie pause, the Cube began to beep. Worried, Wheatley backed away from it. But as soon as it had started, it stopped.

"Finally. I thought you'd never find that." the Cube said. Except, it wasn't the Cube, he thought. It was the voice of GLaDOS, the slightly _murderous_ AI who controlled Aperture Laboratories.

Wheatley let out an involuntary yelp at the sound of her voice. It's not exactly pleasant to be confronted by a person who wants to murder you.

"Hold on…" GLaDOS said, "Who is that?" The Cube beeped again, and the top of it lifted up. Under it, Wheatley could make out the red lense of a security camera. He paled, and waved nervously as it swung towards him. "Oh, you are _kidding_ me…" She groaned. "Why do _you_ have the Aperture Science Weighted Companion Cube?"

"Uh, heh, well…" Wheatley wrung his hands nervously. "She—Chell, that is—well, she had left it outside the exit."

The glow the Cube's hearts were emitting flared violently. "That clever little—" GLaDOS stopped short, and sighed. "That still doesn't explain how _you_ came to have it in _your_ possession."

"I-I figured—just to be nice, do her a favor, nothing else!—that she might have just forgotten it, so I…" He paused, a bit embarrassed—in retrospect, his decision didn't seem the smartest. "I took it with me so I could give it to her when I found her."

A small sound—was that laughter?—came from the Cube. "You carried that heavy thing for _hundreds_ of miles, trying to return it to someone who's most likely _dead_?!"

Wheatley frowned, oddly annoyed that She'd assume Chell couldn't survive on her own. "But she's _not_ dead!"

The laughter stopped. "She's not?"

"No…" he confirmed, regretting his hasty outburst.

"And how, exactly, do you know that? 'Hope' isn't the same as 'fact', you know."

"I know that," he muttered, "I'm not a moron…" He sighed in defeat. "We actually did find a town, this little country club. And, wouldn't you know it, she's living here." When GLaDOS didn't reply, he began to get worried. "Y-you aren't planning on…doing anything to her, are you? If you let her go, then she's _out_, and you can't do anything to her—"

"—Shut up, you moron!" GLaDOS snapped. "Let's get one thing straight—I didn't 'let her go'. She…escaped after she shot you out into orbit. Secondly, you of all people shouldn't be telling _me_ what to do. I'm certainly not going to bring her back into my facility. She's a murderous monster, and she almost caused my facility to explode. Actually, the latter is _your_ fault. But don't worry…I won't do anything to her. Yet." The glow of the Cube dimmed. "I hear someone coming."

Wheatley listened carefully, and frowned. "Oh, boy, I think that might be the giant bird thing…"

The Cube's hearts flashed brightly before going out completely. "BIRD?!" GLaDOS yelled.

"Oh, no, wait, it's only Space Core." Wheatley said, with a hint of a smile. He had…_forgotten_ that GLaDOS had developed a phobia of birds as well.

He could almost see GLaDOS' yellow optic glaring at him. "Well, have fun walking back to whatever little town she found with him. Bring the Cube with you."

"What?" Wheatley said. "Why?"

"I want to…observe that mute for a while. And see all the people she's aquatinted herself with." She said, being purposefully vague.

Hearing Space coming closer to his hidey hole, Wheatley sighed. "Fine. I'll bring it back. As long as you don't…do anything." The only reply was the camera disappearing into the top of the Cube, and the soft, normal glow of the Cube returning.


	4. Chapter 4

"Space, space, space, wanna go back! Go back to space! Back to space with Space Buddy!"

Chell glanced up from the receptionist's desk towards the door of the hospital as it swung open, revealing Wheatley' tall figure. He was trying to hold open the door with what looked like a box, while trying to fend off Space Core.

"Good on ya, mate!" he yelled at Space Core. "Space! Yes! Why not marry space if you love it so much?!"

"Space?" Space asked happily.

"Yes! Space! Hey, look over there! It's SPACE!" Wheatley shouted, slamming the door. He leaned against it and sighed in relief. "Finally. Longest walk of my life."

Chell raised an eyebrow. "What took you so long? We all left the beach a while ago."

"I was looking for this and got lost. And was attacked by a giant bird. And fell off a cliff. Worse than navigating Aperture, that forest…" He dropped the 'box' in front of her.

She blinked in confusion. "Is that…my Companion Cube?"

"Indeed it is," Wheatley beamed. "I noticed you left it outside the shed. So I brought it back for you!"

Chell glanced at the Cube critically. "Do you know why I left it out there?" Without waiting for him to answer, she continued. "Because I didn't trust GLaDOS." Wheatley winced a bit at the casual use of the name, but didn't interrupt. "Sure, she let me out, but in my mind, giving me my Companion Cube back was a bit of a stretch. She probably booby trapped it or something."

Wheatley frowned. "So She let you go…and you don't want the Cube because She—you think She did something to it?"

Her expression softened at the disappointed look on his face. "I'm probably just paranoid. I suppose the thought of her being nice to me after the countless murder attempts is hard to wrap my head around." She picked up the Cube and placed it carefully on the desk. "Thank you for bringing it all this way. It must have been heavy."

"It was nothing, really. The hard part was finding you. And even then that was by accident…"

"Well, I'm glad you did. I don't think anyone else would be able to help you out," Chell said. "Morality Core told me that GLaDOS just…did something to make you human and kicked you out of Aperture?"

"That's about right. I'm guessing the others got on her nerves, so she pulled Space and me back down, pulled the others out of the incinerator, and made sure we had a way to move. Then, she just…got rid of us." Wheatley shrugged. "Not that I'm complaining; not at all. I'm glad to be out, and I'm able to, y'know, move without a management rail."

She smiled and gestured to the door. "The others are wandering around the town, exploring. You want to join them?" When he hesitated, she rolled her eyes. "I'll be right out; I just have to put my Cube up in my room. Maybe you can get me alone so you can apologize." Satisfied with the prospect, Wheatley left the hospital.

This thing is much harder to carry without a portal gun, Chell thought, picking up the Cube and climbing up a flight of nearby maintenance stairs. At the top, she emerged into a small, red walled living room. She had a bit of trouble fitting the Cube through the doorway into the hall, but finally she was able to get to the end of it. Pushing the last door open, she placed the Cube in a corner next to her closet. Flopping backwards onto the queen sized bed, she sighed.

Aperture is invading my life again… Chell thought. Back when I was a test subject, all I was concerned with was getting away from it all, and now that I have, it's all coming to me. She sighed again. The guilt trip from seeing all the other cores again was enough, but then…Wheatley? She didn't know how she was supposed to feel about him now. He was obviously sorry for what he had done to her, but was it forgivable? Attempted murder isn't really something to be taken lightly. Was it his fault, though? She squeezed her eyes shut, a memory overtaking her other thoughts.

"Alternate Core detected."

_"Oh, that's me they're talking about!" Wheatley said excitedly. The little robot was hanging in midair, suspended by Chell's portal gun._

_"_To initiate a core transfer, please deposit substitute core in receptacle,"_ the announcer informed them, as said receptacle rose out of the floor. _

_"Core transfer?" GLaDOS said angrily from the middle of the chamber, her optic narrowing at the two of them. "Oh, you are kidding me!"_

_"I've got an idea! Do what it says, plug me in!" Wheatley suggested._

_"Do _not_ plug that little idiot into _my_ mainframe!" GLaDOS commanded._

_"No, you _should_ plug that little idiot into the mainframe!" he insisted, not noticing the insult._

_"Don't you _dare_ plug him in!"_

_"Plug me in, plug me in!"_

_"Don't. Do it."_

_Wheatley rolled his optic. "Don't listen to Her. Do it. Do it!" With a triumphant glare at GLaDOS, Chell finally obliged, plugging Wheatley into a small machine in the floor._

"Substitute core accepted,"_ the announcer said cheerfully. _"Substitute core, are you ready to start the procedure?"

_"Yes!" Wheatley said confidently. _

"Corrupted core, are you ready to start the procedure?"

_"No!" GLaDOS shouted._

_"Ohhhhhh yes, She is!" Wheatley insisted._

_"Nonononononono!" GLaDOS shot back._

"Stalemate detected. Transfer procedure cannot continue."

_"Yes!" GLaDOS cheered._

_"Pull me out, pull me out, pull me out, pull me out, pull me out, pull me out, pull me out!" Wheatley yelled in a panic, trying to disconnect himself. Chell quickly ran over to help him._

"…unless a stalemate associate is present to press the stalemate resolution button."

_Upon hearing this, the personality core changed his mind. "Leave me in, leave me in! Go press it!"_

_"Don't. Do it." GLaDOS said again._

_"Yes, do do it!"_

_"Don't press that button! You don't know what you're doing."_

_"I think She's lying…" Wheatley whispered to her. Chell glanced to her left, and spotted the button. She took a step towards it. Suddenly, the floor pulled back to reveal a catapult, which threw her up and away from the button, back towards Wheatley._

_"Not so fast!" GLaDOS narrowed her optic at Chell, with obvious hatred. "Think about this. You need to be a trained stalemate associate to press that button. You're unqualified."_

_Ignoring her, Chell shot a portal from her portal gun behind the catapult blocking the way. She shot another one on the floor, and dropped through to the room with the button. She moved to go press it, but more panels appeared to block her way._

_"Don't listen to Her!" Wheatley called encouragingly as Chell tried to find a way around the panels. "It _is_ true that you don't have the qualifications. But you've got something more important than that. A finger, with which to push that button, so that She won't kill us." Chell laughed silently despite the seriousness of the situation, and shot a portal across the room, running towards the button before the panels had time to appear. She smiled a bit, and pressed the button._

_"AHH!" GLaDOS yelled. The panels surrounding the button dropped down._

"Stalemate resolved. Please return to the core transfer bay."

_"Here I go!" Wheatley cheered as the receptacle lowered into the ground. He paused. "Wait, what if this hurts?" he asked nervously. "What if this _really_ hurts? Ohhh, I didn't think of that."_

_"Oh, it will." GLaDOS assured him quietly. "Believe me, it will."_

_"Are you just saying that, or is it really gonna hurt?" Wheatley twitched nervously, sending out a few sparks. "You're just saying that, aren't you? You're just-No, you're not. It's going to hurt, isn't it?" The receptacle lowered all the way into the ground, and Chell couldn't see what was going on. "Exactly how painful are we t—AUUUGGHH!" he screamed suddenly. Chell winced. It didn't sound like a painless experience at all._

_From the center of the room, where GLaDOS was, the floor opened up and several arms came out. They began to disassemble GLaDOS. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" GLaDOS shouted. "NO! STOP! No!" Chell felt a tiny twang of guilt at how panicked GLaDOS sounded. Panels soon came up around her to shield the procedure, but there was no need—Chell was already looking away. "No! NO! NO!" she shrieked. Then she let out a scream so terrible it sent shivers down Chell's spine. However, it was quickly cut off. The panels dropped, GLaDOS' 'head' on the ground next to Chell. In GLaDOS' place was Wheatley, looking quite proud of himself._

_He spun around in GLaDOS' chassis, the mood in the room quickly brightening by the change in power. "Wooooow! Check me out, partner!" he called down to her. "We did it! I'm in control of the whole facility now!" He spun again, dizzy with excitement. "Whoa-ho-ho! Would you look at this. Not too bad, eh? Giant robot. Massive! It's not just me, right? I am bloody massive, aren't I?"_

_Chell rolled her eyes and nodded. She tapped her foot slightly impatiently, not wanting to ruin his moment. "Oh! Right, the escape lift! I'll call it now." Wheatley said sheepishly. Moments later, an elevator rose up out of the floor. "There we go, lift called!" Chell happily stepped into it, the glass door closing behind her. She turned back to Wheatley, a smile on her face. "Look how small you are down there," Wheatley peered at her. "I can barely see you! Very tiny and insignificant." Chell considered that, and glancing at Wheatley's new huge body, nodded in agreement. "Let me tell you, I knew it was going to be cool to be in charge of everything, but," Confetti rained down on the room, as though in celebration, "wow, this is cool!" His voice took on a bit of pride. "And check this out; I'm a bloody genius now! _Está utilizando este software de traducción de forma incorrecta. Por favor, consulte el manual._ I don't even know what I just said, but I can find out!"_

_Chell rolled her eyes, for some reason understanding the Spanish perfectly. She waved her portal gun in the air to get Wheatley's attention again. Wheatley blinked. "Oh! Sorry. The lift, yes. Sorry, I keep forgetting." He let out a nervous chuckle. The elevator began rising, and Chell began to become as excited as Wheatley was. She was escaping! Finally! In an effort to restrain herself from cheering, she focused on what Wheatley was saying. "This body is amazing, seriously!" He spun around yet again. "I can't get over how small you are! But I'm huge!" He started laughing. Chell smiled, happy for him. But…something was wrong. His laugh was turning much more maniacal. The elevator slowed down a bit, but she didn't notice. She pressed her free hand against the glass of the elevator, staring as Wheatley began to laugh like a super villain from comic books. Finally, the laughter trailed off._

_"Actually," Wheatley said thoughtfully. The lift stopped just short of leaving the chamber, and slowly came back down to the ground. Chell could do nothing but stare in disbelief. "Why do we have to leave right _now_?" Chell could think of many reasons why. "Do you have any idea how good this feels?" Wheatley asked her. "I did this! Tiny little Wheatley did this!"_

_"You didn't do anything…" a voice said angrily from a corner. Chell had forgotten about GLaDOS, stranded in a corner. "_She_ did all the work!"_

_"Oh really?" Wheatley glared at Chell, his full concentration on her. "That's what the two of you think, is it? Well, maybe it's time I did something than!" Another mechanical arm reached out of the floor and dragged GLaDOS' 'head' into a hole in the floor underneath him._

_"What do you think you're doing?! No! NO!" GLaDOS protested, but the floor closed up._

_"And don't think I'm not onto you too, lady. Do you know what you are? Selfish. I've done nothing but sacrifice to get us here, and what have you sacrificed? _Nothing_! Zero! All you've done is _boss me around_!" He narrowed his optic at her. "Well, _now_ who's the boss? Who's the boss?" Wheatley moved closer to her and whispered threateningly, "It's me!" _

Chell winced, the memory evaporating. Her feelings about Wheatley could be sorted out later. She had a few other things to take care of, first. She left the room, not noticing the little red lense of a camera following her every move.


	5. Chapter 5

When Chell emerged from the hospital, she found Wheatley talking to Dr. Delaine, Mel's mom and the town doctor. When Wheatley saw Chell, he waved cheerily. "Oh, hello! I was just leaving, and I bumped into this nice lady here!"

Dr. Delaine laughed. "Quite literally. He ran straight into me as though he were blind!"

"Not _blind_, exactly, but you were a bit fuzzy."

Chell raised an eyebrow. "Fuzzy? Susan, should he-"

She laughed. "I know, I know." The doctor turned to Wheatley. "Honey, I think you need glasses."

He seemed confused with the term of endearment, but even more confused about the idea of getting glasses. "Glasses?" he echoed. "Aren't they those big chunky things the scientists wear when they do experiments? Why would I need those?"

Susan shook her head. "Those are goggles. Glasses help you see clearly."

"Oh! Well, in that case, that seems preferable than blurry vision. But…" He turned to Chell nervously. "Do I really have to go to the doctor for it…?"

He looked and sounded so much like a little kid who didn't want to go in the doctor's office without his mother that Chell had to laugh. "Yes, Wheatley. But I can vouch that Susan's the best doctor in town. Not to mention the ONLY one…"

"Will you come with me? Maybe? We can, erm, chat about certain things while this goes on…"

"Sure, I'd be glad to—"

"SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE !" yelled a figure running past. No one needed to look to see who it was, but Chell looked anyways.

Down the street, chaos was breaking out. Too much dust had been kicked up to see what was going on, but Chell knew it was something she'd probably have to break up. "Oh, no…Doctor, can you take care of Wheatley? I have to— " An explosion in the direction of the obscured fight cut her off. "—gorightnowberightback!" She dashed down the street.

The two of them stared after her. Wheatley looked at Dr. Delaine nervously, but his unease diminished at the kind expression on her face. Hopefully, this woman wouldn't do anything horrible to him. The doctor turned to Wheatley. "A bit high strung today, isn't she…?"

He risked a glance down the street. "I think the stress of seeing us all again is getting to her."

"Again? You've met each other previously?" Susan asked as she gently led Wheatley inside the hospital.

The smell of cleaning agents hit Wheatley hard—how hadn't he noticed it before? Oh, that's right; he'd been talking to Chell. Wrinkling his nose against the smell, he remembered Dr. Delaine's question. "Well, yes, in—" Wheatley cut himself short, and eyed Dr. Delaine suspiciously. "She didn't tell you about what happened before she ended up here?"

"Well…no…"

"Then I'm not sure I should be telling you without her permission." He glanced at her anxiously, "Not that I don't trust you! And she probably trusts you too! Just maybe not with that—" He cut himself off again. "I'm sorry, I babble when I'm nervous. Or so everyone else tells me."

"No, no, you're right. I just think of Chell as a daughter, so I'm prone to prying into her business like any mother," Susan chuckled. Wheatley laughed with her nervously, now a bit uncomfortable as they neared one of the examination rooms. "I admit I agree with your caution, though. If she didn't tell me before, I shouldn't try and get _you_ to tell me."

To Wheatley's dismay, they had arrived at the exam room by that time. It fit his mental image of a hospital room—white walls with horrific-looking medical instruments everywhere. Dr. Delaine led him over to a chair in a corner of the room, in which he sat down, glancing around at the many sharp objects anxiously.

"Calm down, Mr. Wheatley," Dr. Delaine said, "Chell trusts me, so I hope you will too. Now, wait here while I get my equipment." With that, she left the room, closing the door behind her.

Wheatley got up, and went over to the small window on the far wall. From up top, the dust wasn't as thick, and Wheatley could see all that was going on. It wasn't a pretty sight. As he had been able to guess from outside, all the other cores were in a fight amongst themselves. Anger and Adventure were actually engaged in a fist fight. Fact Core and Intelligence Core were—from the looks of things—arguing the validity of each other's facts, looking as though they were ready to resort to violence as well. Space Core wasn't helping matters, running around the rest of them screaming about space jail, space cops, and space courtrooms. He seemed to be the one causing all the dust. Morality and Curiosity were standing off to the side, looking quite bewildered, trying their best to stay out of both the arguments and the dust cloud.

Chell, looking quite angry with all of them, was attempting to break up the fights, calm down Space, and get the two girls to help at the same time. Wheatley stared down at her—her efforts were failing, but you had to admire her tenacity. So much had happened that day—Wheatley couldn't blame her for being stressed. Sometimes he wished everything would go back to the way it had been a week ago, just floating around in dark, cold, (mostly) silent space, with the (never silent) Space Core. Maybe then he could avoid the cold looks Chell had been giving him since he arrived. Not that he didn't deserve it. Those memories haunted him too. Uh, oh, Wheatley thought, and quickly sat back down in the chair.

While he and the other cores had been trekking through the wheat field before arriving in Crystal Downs, he'd occasionally have a few blackouts, followed by some memories from Aperture. Nothing too drastic, it always passed within minutes, but no one had waited for him to come to before moving on. He tried his hardest not to black out after that. It wasn't just the lack of compassion from his fellow cores, however, that made him want to stop. Some of the memories were too painful. They always seemed to be memories from times in his life that were stressful, or when he was in trouble. (Which, in retrospect, would be every other moment of his life) But not being able to sense it coming this time, he wasn't able to prevent it. Sighing, he closed his eyes, and waited to see what memory it was this time.

_"We're almost there!" Wheatley shouted to the orange-clad figure below him. "The portal gun is in _this_ testing track, I know it!" He squinted across the test chamber. "Though I could be wrong. Wouldn't be the first time," he said quietly. "Anyways!" he called down, his normal cheery tone returning. "Just jump across that gap and you'll be able to get at it!" The test subject blinked, looking at Wheatley as though seeing him for the first time. _

_The core sighed. "Portal gun. Over there. Jump. Then we escape," he said slowly. The test subject blinked again, but seemed to comprehend. The human walked to the edge of the gap and jumped._

_When he fell short of the other side, Wheatley knew the poor man was a goner. No Long Fall Boots, not the most physically fit test subject, and obvious brain damage—he didn't stand a chance. Wheatley squeezed his optic shut as a sickening thump sounded from below. Edging around the pit, he left the abandoned testing track as quickly as he could. "Sorry 'bout that, mate," Wheatley mumbled, making his way back to the Relaxation Center Control Room. "S'pose you weren't the man for the job…" That man was the fifth test subject he'd tried to use for an escape (Well, sixth, if you counted the man who had woken up in the Relaxation Vault in Test Chamber 00, grabbed a nearby Companion Cube, and bolted.) All 5 test subjects had died quickly. Falling, getting shot by turrets, dropping into acid—test subjects were supposed to be able to survive all that! Humans were so fragile._

_Snapping back to the present, Wheatley found himself at the Control Room. He passed by the Sentry Turrets guarding the entrance, warily noting the trail of dried blood on the floor near them. Inside, he looked out at the dilapidated Relaxation Center from the large front window. Everything was falling apart—the Relaxation Chambers were falling off their rails; the maintenance robots had been broken down for several decades now; and, though he hated to admit it, Wheatley occasionally had to dispose of the skeletons of test subject that had expired long ago. Silently, he cursed the test subject that had destroyed GLaDOS all those years ago. Sure, She had been a complete terror, but at least all the systems were online. Wheatley was sure that he was the only functioning core—sentient machine, even—in the facility, minus the odd Turret. He glanced over at the television screen next to the window. A lit up schematic, representing all of the Chambers in the huge room, alerted him that only one grid—powering six Chambers—was online. All the others were offline, and if they were offline, the test subjects inside them were—well, dead._

_He had already used up five of the six test subjects in that online grid. That meant that the test subject in the last Chamber in the grid was the only test subject left. The only one alive. Reassessing the schematic, Wheatley determined that the closest testing track that he hadn't already explored was track 001-04. The last test subject, the last one alive, the last testing track—last, last, last. If this attempt didn't work, Wheatley worried he might have to find his own way out. Without a test subject to carry him, however, he wouldn't be able to get around the gaps and breakdowns in his Management Rail. He figured that he had three options—either have a long overdue bout of luck with this last test subject, throw himself into a vat of toxic goo (one that had retained its toxic properties) to avoid eternal boredom trapped in the facility, or try and power up GLaDOS, if he could make it to her chamber. Wheatley shuddered; if he was seriously considering activating GLaDOS, things must be desperate. _

_With a final glance at the schematic to memorize where the last chamber was, Wheatley turned off the computers and the grid. He was going to get the test subject out anyways—no need to waste precious energy on the chamber or screens. He left through a side door, the one that led into the Center itself. "Now, where is that junction…?" he muttered to himself as he searched the Management Rail for the turn off. Locating it, he moved onto it carefully, aware that the rail could buckle and fall any moment. _

_No one ever used this part of the Rail even when the facility was active-not only was it a dead end, but the only things along the track were the desolate Relaxation Chambers of the absolute worst test subjects. As far as Wheatley knew, the _entire_ Relaxation Center grid had blown out when GLaDOS exploded, but someone had put one grid online again. He supposed he should be lucky that he actually _had_ those test subjects to try and escape with, but someone had a very bad sense of humor to power up the grid containing the horrid test subjects—the ones who had no business doing any sort of athletic activity, the hobos that the old CEO of Aperture had stuck in stasis because he didn't want to pay them (poor blokes had been in cryo-sleep for at least a century), those who were too badly injured to continue testing but weren't quite dead, and the ones who were just plain bad at testing. _

_Within minutes, he arrived at the grid he had been getting test subjects from. Wheatley glanced at each Chamber, recalling their inhabitant's various deaths. He was aware that remembering people by their deaths wasn't very nice, but he had never really paid attention to them. He had to admit that he didn't exactly care about what happened to the test subjects as long as they got him out of the facility. _

_Zooming past the Chambers one by one, Wheatley began to stress more and more. _Fell into acid, shot by turrets, cut to a bloody pulp by an acre of glass falling on top of her, wrongly placed portals, simply withered away from hunger,_ he recited in his head as he grew closer to the last Chamber. With a weary sigh, he checked out the test subject's identification card. He eyed it skeptically—there were many interesting things about this one. For one, it was a female. There was only one other female in the grid. Secondly, the test subject number was crossed out. It was originally printed as #1498, but that was crossed off and replaced by a large __**#1**__. _If this is really test subject number one,_ Wheatley thought, _then what is she doing down here with all of these horrible ones?_ He shifted his gaze down the checklist. _That's funny. According to this, she should have expired a long time ago…_ She was an adult, and she was tall…The boxes for 'fat' and 'slim' seemed to have checked and erased several times over the years, Wheatley noted, as though her weight were actively debatable. _

Oh, this won't turn out well…_Wheatley thought nervously, and knocked gently on the door of the chamber. "Hello? Anyone in there? Hello?" Only silence came from behind the door. _Give her time to get out of bed,_ he thought. A few seconds later, he rolled his optic impatiently. "Are you going to open the door? At any time? Are you going to open this door? Because it's fairly urgent." He groaned inwardly. "Fine! No, absolutely fine. It's not like I don't have, you know, ten thousand other test subjects begging me to help them escape. You know, it's not like this place is about to _explode,_" he shouted at the door. He strained to hear something from behind the door, and thought he might have heard footsteps, but the door didn't open. He sighed, "Alright, look, okay, I'll be honest. You're the _last_ test subject left. And if you _don't_ help me, we're both going to die. Alright? I didn't want to say it; you dragged it out of me. Alright? Dead." Wheatley stared at the door intently, and when it didn't open, he sighed again, this time in exasperation, and began to move away from the Chamber._

_Suddenly, there was a horrible creaking sound as the door swung open. "Ha, I knew someone was alive in there!" Wheatley cried, and turned back around towards the door. He glanced through it, and instantly backed up with a shout. "Oh. My. Gosh. You look terribl- ummm... good. Looking good, actually," he said awkwardly. It was a complete lie, of course. The woman looked absolutely horrible. Her hair was a mess, its ponytail escaping from the hair-tie, and strands of choppy hair fell across her face in what _might_ be referred to as bangs. Her orange jumpsuit was rumpled and in serious need of cleaning, as it was ripped and stained with what looked like blood. Her eyes appeared tired—odd, since she had just spent years asleep—and she seemed to be looking at him with a mix of apprehensiveness and defiance, yet seemed to be staring through him at the same time. _

_Wheatley took the small bit of attention as a good sign, and rode his Rail into the room. The test subject backed up quickly as he moved towards center of the Chamber. "Are you okay? Are you - Don't answer that. I'm absolutely sure you're fine. There's plenty of time for you to recover. Just take it slow."_

_"_Please prepare for emergency evacuation._" _

_"Stay calm!" Wheatley shouted, not used to the Announcer's loud voice after such a long time without it. "Stay calm," he repeated himself, taking his own advice. "'Prepare', that's all they're saying, 'prepare'." He positioned himself under the hatch that led to the driving compartment of the chamber, aware of the test subject's eyes staring intently at him. "It's all fine. Alright? Don't move. I'm gonna get us out of here." He rose up into the compartment and looked over the controls briefly. "Oh. You might want to hang onto something. Word of advice, up to you," he called down. _

_Uncertainly, he pressed a button nearest to him, and the Chamber instantly creaked and fell down what felt like several feet. There were continuous crashing sounds coming from below him. Wheatley hoped that meant he had disengaged the Chamber from the grid and reconnected it to its Rail, but he couldn't be sure. "You alright down there?" he asked the test subject. "Can you hear me? Hello?" There was silence from the Chamber, and, worried that he had already killed his last test subject, he opened the hatch and lowered himself back down into the room again. _

_A quick examination of the room revealed a sizable amount of damage, but the test subject, who was half standing, half crouching in the corner of the room, seemed perfectly fine. "Most test subjects do experience some cognitive deterioration after a few months in suspension. Now you've been under for... quite a lot longer, and it's not out of the question that you might have a very minor case of serious brain damage." Wheatley looked at the subject nervously. Her reaction would help him make a very sketchy picture of how bad her brain damage really was. She simply continued to stare at him with her creepy gray eyes, and Wheatley fidgeted, feeling a bit awkward. Finally, there was a barely perceptible nod, accompanied by a small spark in her eye, and the stare wasn't as vacant. Now, the test subject seemed to be paying much more attention than she had been. "But don't be alarmed, alright?" he encouraged her, though she didn't seem to be showing emotion at all, much less alarm. "Although, if you do feel alarm, try to hold onto that feeling because that is the proper reaction to being told you have brain damage." There—was that a hint of a smile? If she was smiling, that meant her brain damage wasn't that bad. Or maybe it was very bad, and smiling at such a serious matter was a symptom of mental issues. Wheatley wasn't a doctor, though, so he trusted his instincts and figured she was fine. _

_"Do you understand what I'm saying? At all? Does any of this make any sense? _Just_ tell me, just _**_say_**_ 'Yes'." The test subject simply looked at him with her gray eyes again, and her staring was made worse by that intelligent sparkle she had gotten. She knew what she was doing—she knew she was making him uncomfortable, and she was choosing to be silent. Wheatley stared right back at her. Finally, as though just realizing that he wouldn't talk until she replied to him, she gave him that odd smile and…jumped up in the air. Wheatley was confounded—he thought she wasn't brain damaged. Then he recalled her expression—it had changed from slightly smug to very confused within a spilt second. It seemed that she remembered some things, but her mental-physical coordination wasn't very good. "Okay. What you're doing there is jumping. You just... you just jumped," Wheatley explained to her, though it seemed she knew what she had done and was confused as to why she did it. "But never mind. Say 'Apple'. 'Aaaapple.'" He looked at the woman expectantly. She seemed conflicted again, as though she knew what to say and how to say it, but simply couldn't. "Simple word. 'Apple,'" he offered. A few seconds later, she jumped again. Wheatley sighed—how hard was it to say the first word any baby human learns? It's the first word in every ABC book you'd pick up from the children's section in a library. Well, every ABC book except those in the facility's library. Those all said, "A is for Aperture!" But…'apple'! _

_Suddenly, alarms and lights began flashing from the driving compartment above him. Wheatley's optic widened, and he gave the test subject a fleeting glance. "Okay, you know what? That's close enough. Just hold tight." As quickly as he could manage, he moved back up into the compartment. The entire control panel was lit up and making a medley of beeps and whirs. _

"All reactor core safeguards are now non-functional. Please prepare for reactor core meltdown," the Announcer said.

_"Ooooh, we're in trouble," Wheatley muttered. Glancing around the compartment, he noticed the large navigation screen, which bathed the small space in red light as the words 'WARNING, IMPACT IMMINENT' flashed rapidly. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!" he hissed at the computers, and hit another random button. The lights and sounds stopped as suddenly as they had started, and Wheatley grinned. _That worked out better than expected_. Feeling confident, he pressed the button labeled 'ENGINE'. The Chamber gave a satisfying creak and began to hum. Wheatley plugged himself into a port near the computer, and urged the Chamber upward, to avoid the large stacks of other Relaxation Chambers piled around it. _

_"Okay, look, I wasn't going to mention this to you, but I am in pretty hot water here." The Chamber swayed slowly, and a ray of light fell into the driving compartment. Wheatley squinted at a small hole in the wall that he was sure hadn't been there before. "How you doing down there? You still holding on?" he asked absently. He looked back at the navigation panel. It showed that the Chamber wasn't quite clear of the piles yet, and was swerving too close to them. Wheatley steered in the opposite direction, but not quick enough to avoid a small collision with an empty Chamber. "The reserve power ran out, so of course the whole relaxation center stops waking up the bloody test subjects," he said. It was only a white lie—the reserve power did run out. Someone just turned it back on for a certain grid. Examining the computers again, he realized that the Chamber was out of vertical Rail, and there was still at least five more Chambers to clear. However, it also indicated that the piles were only one Chamber thick, and would topple easily. Wheatley made up his mind quickly. "Hold on! This is a bit tricky!" he called down to the test subject, and steered the Chamber right into the nearest pile. "And of course nobody tells ME anything. Noooo. Why should they tell me anything?" Wheatley rammed the pile again. "Why should I be kept informed about the life functions of the ten thousand bloody test subjects I'm supposed to be in charge of?" The stack toppled with a satisfying crash, and he continued to drive forwards. _

_Wheatley checked the screens again. A sharp turn was coming up, and he wasn't sure that he could make it without hitting more Chambers. The computer graph didn't give him much of a view, however. "Oi, it's close... can you see? Am I gonna make it through? Have I got enough space?" he asked the woman. There was no answer, and he sighed loudly. "Fine, no, it's alright, don't tell me. I'll just have to rattle you up a bit. Wake you up," Wheatley muttered. "Agh, just... I just gotta get it through here," he called back down. Instead of turning the Chamber, he let it hit the Chamber that was blocking the way forwards. His own Chamber jerked violently, and Wheatley could hear a few more thuds from below. "Okay, I've just gotta concentrate!" he yelled, suppressing a strong urge to laugh. A skeleton fell out of the other Chamber as it swung and fell off of its Rail. Noticing it, Wheatley remembered something he hadn't before. "And whose fault do you think it's going to be when the management comes down here and finds ten thousand flipping vegetables?" _Me_, he answered himself silently._

_As he sped around the corner, Wheatley yelped—another Chamber loomed in front of them, blocking the path onward. Despite putting on the brakes and pressing various buttons the momentum was too strong, and the Chamber crashed again, knocking the other one down into the depths of the Relaxation Center. "Aggh, see, now I hit that one, I hit that one..." he said. He accelerated the Chamber again, and hoped that the subject wasn't too battered up by the various crashes. "Okay, listen, we should get our stories straight, alright? If anyone asks - and no one's gonna ask, don't worry - but if anyone asks, tell them as far as you know, the last time you checked, everyone looked pretty much alive. Alright? Not dead." _Oh, and I had nothing to do with their deaths. Add that too.

_By that time, the computer showed a large number 001-04, so the entrance to the testing track was visible already. Wheatley let out a sigh of relief and accelerated further. There were only a few yards to go before the search for the portal gun could begin. "Okay, almost there. On the other side of that wall is one of the old testing tracks," he explained as he stalled in front of the entrance. "There's a piece of equipment in there we're gonna need to get out of here. I-I _think_ this is a docking station. Get ready..." With a quick prayer for good luck, Wheatley urged the Chamber forward and slammed into the wall. _

_The impact was harder than he had expected. The warning light started flashing again, and he quickly activated what he now called the 'SHUT UP' button. "Good news," Wheatley said. "That is _not_ a docking station. So that's one mystery solved…I'm going to attempt a manual override on this wall. Could get a bit technical! Hold on!" he warned, as he readied himself for another hit. He slammed into the testing track wall, and cringed as the whole Chamber vibrated from the impact. "Almost there! Remember, you're looking for a gun that makes holes. Not bullet holes, but- well, you'll figure it out. Really do hold on this time!" _

_With a final nudge forward on Wheatley's part, the Chamber rammed into the wall and broke through. A slight bit anxious, Wheatley opened the hatch and moved back down into the main Chamber. Looking around, he saw that the Chamber's contents were in various forms of disorder—the Chamber itself was almost completely stripped down to its steel frame. He then turned to the test subject, who was covered in dust but was still alive. She eyed him warily, and crossed her arms in an annoyed gesture. Wheatley ignored her and tried to sound cheerful. "Whew. There we go! Now I'll be honest, you are probably in no fit state to run this particular type of cognitive gauntlet." The woman glared at him. "But... um... at least you're a good jumper. So... you've got that. You've got the jumping on your side. Just do your best, and I'll meet you up ahead." The test subject stared at him, then at the large hole in the side of the Chamber towards the testing track. "Alright, off you go!" Again, she stared at him, then the track, as though trying to remember something. "Go on. Just…March on down through that hole." Finally, the test subject moved forward. "That's the spirit!" Only a few steps out of the Chamber, a panel of glass broke underneath her, and she fell into what Wheatley figured was this testing track's Test Chamber 00._

_"Good luck!" he yelled after her._

"Wheatley? Are you alright?"

"GAH!" Wheatley yelled, opening his eyes. "Who—What—Why—!"

"Calm down, it's only me," Dr. Delaine soothed him. "You're very tired, aren't you? I've been calling your name for a couple of minutes now."

"You have? Oh, terribly sorry," Wheatley rubbed his neck as his face flushed with embarrassment. "I was simply….reminiscing."

"I see. Shall we get on with the vision test, then?"

"Test?! What kind of test?!"

Susan gave him an odd look. "It's a test to see how bad your eyesight is."

"Oh. Haha, _that_ kind of test." Wheatley sat up straighter and sighed. "Let's get this over with. I'll be able to see better once I get glasses, right?"

"Of course. That's the point."

"Well, let's get going then!"

* * *

**AN: FOR PETE'S. SAKE. IT IS FINISHED. Sorry, for the wait, I had a 3 month period of MIOCD writers block. Gooooosh...**


End file.
